Just similar to variable, an attribute is declared with a name and datatype. The name should be exclusive within the object type. The datatype can be any Oracle type excluding:

(i) LONG & LONG RAW

(ii)NCHAR, NCLOB, & NVARCHAR2

(iii)ROWID & UROWID

(v)The types defined within the PL/SQL package

You cannot initialize an attribute in its declaration by using the assignment operator or the DEFAULT clause. You cannot also impose the NOT NULL constraint on an attribute. Though, an object can be stored in the database tables on which you can impose the constraints.

The type of data structure formed by the set of attributes depends on the real-world object being modeled. For illustration, a rational number can present, that has a numerator and a denominator, you require only two INTEGER variables. On another hand, to present a college student, you require quite a few VARCHAR2 variables to hold the name, status, address, phone number, and so on, in addition to a VARRAY variable to hold the courses and grades.

The data structure can be mush complex. For illustration, the datatype of an attribute can be another object type (known as the nestedobject type). That lets you construct a complex object type from the simpler object types. Some object types like lists, queues, and trees are dynamic, meaning that they can grow as they are used. The Recursive object types, that contain direct or indirect references to themselves, permit for highly complicated data models.